Wacktle

I've tried several dummy bookings just now, and got nowwhere; apologies if all this has been said before. Although I can scroll through future cruises and use the drop-downs to select on certain criteria, I cannot get much further. On my laptop screen, the cabin categories are partially obscured by the large banner header (see below) so I cannot easily see which type of balcony cabins are available. If I take pot luck and click on a type, I'm immediately taken to a screen to enter all my personal details.At that point, I have no idea of knowing which cabins are available, and what flight options from England are being offered. As such, I'll continue to ignore Azamara. Yes, I could go to a TA, but without getting some idea of what's available, it would be a nightmare.

I also said "yes" but don't have any of these things to show.

The coffee from Saga's machines is OK. I do agree with you about Taylors coffee. and I use their coffee bags too, if I want one large mug. I've found Costa was ok, but don't use it that often. I do however wonder how much Starbuck's barista training is to produce such vile brown liquid.

Bill, I think (but am not 100% sure) that Saga will either give you the "free" insurance when you declare medical conditions, or will refuse it. I don't think they cover medical conditions for an additional premium, as I've read on here and on social media that people then go to Saga's "paid for" travel insurance, which is completely separate. Other readers may confirm this, or not.

So sorry to hear of the sad loss of your cat. My thoughts are with you.

I cannot agree more with the above! We packed jumpers and macs for our cruise last year (31st Aug) but no sun tan lotion. We had amazing sunny weather, and no rain. I'm hoping we may be lucky again. Other thoughts ... Try different things onboard, like going to a lecture. Some are fascinating, others not so much, but you don't know until you try. Book any speciality restaurants as soon as possible after boarding.

Thank you Sara.

Sorry that your experience means that you won't be on a Saga cruise again. We've got 3 Saga cruises booked, but all short ones. Aside from Saga, we've recently enjoyed a week's Caribbean cruise on Marella's Explorer 2, and have already booked again for 2024.

Oh, that's a blow. I preferred the pre-Covid proper buffet. We never eat in the MDR. It's just not our thing. Another question. Could you choose where you sat in The Grill? Again, pre-Covid we could select our own table and usually sat in the same area, as did others, which was nice. However, post-Covid we've been "put", resulting in different serving staff for every day and meal.

Sara, Firstly thanks for your blogs. Is there now a buffet in The Grill in the evenings, albeit served from behind the plastic screens? I hope so. I think the evening meals were all served ready-plated last time we were onboard (Sept 2022). I much prefer to say how much of each item I want, and what I'd like plated with what. Thanks.

How did you book the Mo Bay lounge?

I'll be up from the table and fetching my own! I think I've done that before, and it causes staff to spring into action.

Enjoying your blogs. From your photo, the Captain could do an "Elvis"?

We had a private car back from our last cruise. We were surprised. The driver said that Saga and Titan do not have enough large vehicles to take passengers to the ports AND transport those who've just disembarked home. I don't know if that's true, as it seems at odds with Vivalidi's theory?

Oh, I've never noticed this !

If I felt that we need to pay an extra £2.50 per mile to upgrade the "chauffeur" transfer (the advertising still makes me laugh!), we might as well book a cheaper cruise and use the taxi company that we always use for non-Saga holidays. We have had a couple of "iffy" transfers, but nothing terrible. If we do experience something intolerable, we will certainly report it to Saga. Fingers crossed!

On a cruise in 2019 that included Bordeaux, a (very) top wine expert was onboard. At a wine tasting, he said he was astounded at the low prices of some very good wines, and even pointed out a couple that were on offer. Sadly, it was our last day. We always use The Grill and have never been offered, or seen, a wine list. I suppose you have to ask for it.

Oh well, I can but wait. Hopefully the 2 short cruises we're interested in aren't popular and will still be a 35% discount. We are already registered for April-Dec 2025, so we won't get caught out again.

We've been on 3 Azamara cruises, but several years ago. Quest in 2013 from Seville (city centre, not Cadiz) to Barcelona, Quest in 2014 from Barcelona to Nice, and Journey in 2016 from/to Dubai. To compare, we've done 3 Thomson/Marella cruises, twice on Dream - Canaries and Caribbean, and last month on Explorer 2 in the Caribbean. The big differences for us are the flight and disembarcation arrangements. Marella's dedicated flights and the ability to remain onboard, all-inclusive, until your included transport takes you to the airport are big pluses. No matter what time your homeward flight is, Azamara will disembark you at 8.30. When looking at cruises, I find there's limited flight options and, from people's reviews, their flights can be indirect and inconvenient. Our experiences on the 3 cruises we did turned out ok. I think the 2013 cruise was well-packaged and our transfer to Barcelona airport worked well with the flight. Our flight back from Nice in 2014 was in the evening. We transferred to the airport in the morning and (after a lot of faff), left our luggage in the left-luggage area, and got a local bus back to Nice, did an open-top bus tour, had lunch, etc, before going back for our flight. In Dubai, we didn't mind a bit of a wait at the airport because we'd upgraded to Emirates Business Class and their lounge was wonderful! Other differences are the nationalities onboard; lots of Americans on our Azamara cruises, plus umpteen other nationalities. Not a problem. Just different. That's also reflected in the food. Senior officers, including the Captain, are very hands-on, visible and approachable on Azamara. Now Azamara are no longer owned by Royal Caribbean, I believe there's been some changes and, from what I read, Onward is run a little differently to the other 3 ships. I think it's all still bedding in. Sorry to waffle, but I hope it helps.

Thanks. What date did you move it? When I did ours, the consultant didn't know whether we'd be in the queue from the original pre-reg date, or the new one, i.e. September.

No, I don't think we did. However, as one cruise was in the Caribbean and the other from Venice to Croatia and Montenegro, the sea conditions would have been different. We did have some stormy weather on the Venice sailing. I do remember the cabin steward putting up the safety bar on the bed one evening, but can't remember where we were. Neither of us suffer from sea sickness.

Oh, a long wait for us then. Ours was Sept last year when we found out that our original pre-reg applied only to Jan-March 2024.

We've done 2 cruises on Royal Clipper. Our first was from Venice and we had Cabin 112 (pic 2184). The second was from Barbados in Cabin 128 (pic 6527). No issue with either. On balance, the 2nd cabin was better because it didn't have a 3rd berth above the bed. It's folded up, but you need to watch your head. It was our choice on the 2nd cruise to have the bed split into 2 singles because it gave access to the underbed drawer.

Are the bedside lights plugged in to sockets that can be used for other electrical devices?

JammyBun, If you think you may like to cruise with Saga in the future, I do advise early booking to get the best discount. Ideally, pay £90pp to register to get these prices before a tranche of cruises is released to the general public. The £90pp is refundable if you don't book, or can be carried forward to the next season/year. We do this and book about 18 months in advance, and have seen prices increase drastically as the cruise date nears. We only book short cruises and, for example, our next one is now about £700pp more than we are paying, for a standard balcony. So, well worth doing if you can commut well in advance.